Amid the trend of reboots and legacy sequels in the horror genre, I’m disappointed about the future of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, but the fate of another 1980s horror saga gives me hope. The horror genre has greatly benefited from reboots and legacy sequels, through which some of the most popular franchises have been brought back, though not all of them with the same success. Surprisingly, one horror franchise that hasn’t seized these trends is A Nightmare on Elm Street, despite contemporary sagas like Halloween proving reboots can be (mostly) successful.
In 1984, Wes Craven brought A Nightmare on Elm Street, which introduced the world to a one-of-a-kind slasher: Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). What Krueger does is attack his targets in their dreams, as they are at their most vulnerable there, but if he kills them in dreams, they die in real life too. Freddy Krueger went on to terrorize more characters in six sequels, a crossover, and a remake, and surprisingly, he hasn’t returned in a reboot – and the most recent update on the franchise’s future is very disappointing.
A Nightmare On Elm Street’s Reboot Is Facing Rights Issues
Unfortunately, There Are Some Legal Obstacles Behind A Nightmare On Elm Street
The last movie in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise was the 2010 remake, and since then, there have been different updates – both encouraging and disappointing – about the franchise’s future. In 2015, a second remake was reportedly in development, but the following year, it was said to have fallen into development hell. However, in 2018, writer Leslie Johnson said that a Nightmare on Elm Street reboot was still happening, but New Line Cinema’s priority at the time was the Conjuring universe (via GameSpot).
In 2019, it was announced that the film rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street had reverted to Wes Craven’s estate, and months later, it was reported that the estate was working on future project pitches for the franchise. These pitches included a new movie and a TV series for Max, and the idea was to have Robert Englund back as Freddy Krueger (despite past comments about not reprising his role). After years of no more comments on the future of A Nightmare on Elm Street, an update has now arrived, and though it was expected, it’s still disappointing.
Brener said he hopes there will be a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie soon, but admitted that it’s complicated because of the rights to it.
Speaking to THR in April 2025, New Line’s CCO, Richard Brener, was asked about the future of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and it’s not an optimistic update. Brener said he hopes there will be a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie soon, but admitted that it’s complicated because of the rights to it. With the rights reverting to Craven’s estate, New Line Cinema only retained international distribution rights, so if they wanted to make a new movie, Craven’s estate would have to cooperate.
A Nightmare On Elm Street’s Rights Issues Are Reminiscent Of Friday The 13th’s
Friday The 13th Has Been Involved In Rights Issues For Years
The current rights issues of A Nightmare on Elm Street inevitably bring to mind those of the Friday the 13th franchise. Created by Victor Miller, the Friday the 13th franchise introduced slasher Jason Voorhees, who would go on to face Freddy Krueger himself in the 2003 crossover Freddy vs. Jason. The Friday the 13th franchise has a total of 11 movies (including the crossover) and a remake, but its future has been quite messy due to an even messier conflict with the rights to it.
The core of the conflict is that both Victor Miller, who wrote the first movie, and director Sean S. Cunningham have been claiming ownership of Friday the 13th for years. Miller claimed that, as the writer of the first Friday the 13th movie, he deserved ownership, but Cunningham claimed to be the real owner, as it was his idea and Miller was hired to write it. After years of conflict, in 2018 a U.S. District Court Judge ruled in favor of Miller, and though Cunningham appealed, Miller’s win was held up.
The conclusion of this chaotic journey is that Miller was able to reclaim the rights to the first Friday the 13th movie, but Cunningham retained control of the intellectual property of the sequels. This is why, if Miller wanted to remake his own movie, he could, or make a movie with the same concept as the first Friday the 13th movie, but he can’t use adult Jason Voorhees with his hockey mask and machete as those don’t appear in the first movie. In the end, the Friday the 13th franchise is expanding with the prequel series Crystal Lake, with Miller producing.
It seemed at various points that the rights issues of Friday the 13th were not going to end and the franchise wasn’t going to expand anymore, but to my surprise, there was a solution, though maybe not the one we hoped for. If it was possible for Friday the 13th to find a way to continue without more issues with the rights and who owns what, I like to think the same could happen with A Nightmare on Elm Street if New Line and Craven’s estate can reach an agreement or the latter sells the rights back to the studio.
Why A Nightmare On Elm Street Needs A Reboot Or Sequel
A Nightmare On Elm Street Deserves One More Chance To Make Things Right Again
As fun as the trends of reboots and legacy sequels have been, I admit not every horror franchise needed to return through these. Final Destination, for example, had a pretty cool conclusion with Final Destination 5, and Scream 4 was a satisfying ending to the Scream saga, but I’m definitely not mad that we’re getting a sixth Final Destination movie and I’ve enjoyed Scream’s reboot movies a lot. Other franchises, however, definitely needed a new chance, even if some of them didn’t succeed, as happened with Halloween, Child’s Play, and Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre, for example.
If the franchise had ended with Freddy vs. Jason, it wouldn’t have been so bad.
A Nightmare on Elm Street falls into the latter category, as the remake wasn’t a worthy conclusion to the franchise. The remake couldn’t replicate what made Craven’s movie so scary yet fun, added unnecessary backstory to Krueger that changed the character for the worse, and Jackie Earle Haley was miscast as Krueger, who was also given a new but not exactly better or scarier look. If the franchise had ended with Freddy vs. Jason, it wouldn’t have been so bad, even if it ended on a cliffhanger, but the remake was a big disappointment.
Supposing the current issues with the rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street are solved, the franchise could return in different ways – whether it’s a remake, a sequel (maybe one to the first movie, ignoring all sequels), a prequel, or even a TV show, but it’s a franchise that deserves one more chance to improve its legacy.
Sources: GameSpot, THR.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
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Wes Craven
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A Nightmare on Elm Street
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A Nightmare on Elm Street
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Freddy’s Nightmares
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Freddy’s Nightmares
Summary
The Nightmare on Elm Street is a horror franchise that began with the 1984 film directed by Wes Craven. The series centers on Freddy Krueger, a former child killer who, after being burned alive by the parents of his victims, returns as a vengeful spirit who kills teenagers in their dreams. The franchise became a cornerstone of the horror genre, spawning nine films, a television series, novels, comics, video games, and more. Freddy Krueger, portrayed by Robert Englund in most of the films, is one of the most iconic characters in horror history. The series is known for its imaginative and terrifying dream sequences, blending slasher elements with supernatural horror.
